e of to amuse
Mankind, and frighten them into a Sense of their Duty. Our Forefathers
look'd upon Nature with more Reverence and Horrour, before the World was
enlightened by Learning and Philosophy, and lov'd to astonish themselves
with the Apprehensions of Witchcraft, Prodigies, Charms and
Enchantments. There was not a Village in _England_, that had not a Ghost
in it, the Church-yards were all haunted, every large Common had a
Circle of Fairies belonging to it, and there was scarce a Shepherd to be
met with who had not seen a Spirit.

Among all the Poets of this Kind our _English_ are much the best, by
what I have yet seen; whether it be that we abound with more Stories of
this Nature, or that the Genius of our Country is fitter for this sort
of Poetry. For the _English_ are naturally fanciful, and very often
disposed by that Gloominess and Melancholy of Temper, which is so
frequent in our Nation, to many wild Notions and Visions, to which
others are not so liable.

Among the _English_, _Shakespear_ has incomparably excelled all others.
That noble Extravagance of Fancy which he had in so great Perfection,
thoroughly qualified him to touch this weak superstitious Part of his
Reader's Imagination; and made him capable of succeeding, where he had
nothing to support him besides the Strength of his own Genius. There is
something so wild and yet so solemn in the Speeches of his Ghosts,
Fairies, Witches and the like Imaginary Persons, that we cannot forbear
thinking them natural, tho' we have no rule by which to judge of them,
and must confess, if there are such Beings in the World, it looks highly
probable that they should talk and act as he has represented them.

There is another sort of imaginary Beings, that we sometimes meet with
among the Poets, when the Author represents any Passion, Appetite,
Virtue or Vice, under a visible Shape, and makes it a Person or an Actor
in his Poem. Of this Nature are the Descriptions of Hunger and Envy in
_Ovid_, of Fame in _Virgil_, and of Sin and Death in _Milton_. We find a
whole Creation of the like Shadowy Persons in _Spencer_, who had an
admirable Talent in Representations of this kind. I have discoursed of
these Emblematical Persons in former Papers, and shall therefore only
mention them in this Place. Thus we see how many Ways Poetry addresses
it self to the Imagination, as it has not only the whole Circle of
Nature for its Province, but makes new Worlds of its own, shews us
Pers